The effectiveness of ShotSpotter, a gunshot detection technology, is difficult to measure. However, the technology did indicate there was a 38% decrease in the amount of gunshots fired from 2017 to 2018 in the areas where the technology is used in Milwaukee.
The Public Safety and Health Committee accepted a $175,000 grant for the Milwaukee Police Department to expand the program Thursday morning. The technology, which uses multiple acoustic sensors within an area to triangulate where a gunshot was fired, has been used by the Milwaukee Police Department since 2010.
“We’re going pretty good in these last six months since we've been changing our strategies and implementing them,” said MPD Chief Alfonso Morales during a budget meeting earlier in the month. “It’s (ShotSpotter) a piece of technology you have to include with other technology within the department.”
The technology is run by SST Inc., a California based company. It is currently being used in more than 90 cities, including New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. The sensors are placed atop buildings and poles. When a gunshot is confirmed, the SST Incident Review Center (IRC) measures where the shot was fired and reports back to the local dispatcher in less than 60 seconds, according to SST.
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The IRC can also identify multiple shooter scenarios, or if the gunshot was fired by an automatic weapon. Notifications are also sent out to smartphones and a squad car’s mobile data terminal. The technology was expanded in Milwaukee in 2014 after the state created a bill to increase funding. The current cost of the technology totals $444,845. The technology currently covers 12 sq. miles across the city.
The ShotSpotter program recently received a $175,000 grant from the State of Wisconsin to expand the program.
Ald. Bob Donovan, chairman of the Public Safety and Health Committee, said he would like to see the program expanded. “This crap is spreading,” said Ald. Donovan, when talking about gunshots fired in the city. “We need to be on top of it.”
The technology is often used in accordance with other investigate measures, such as ballistics and a weekly gunshot review. As of two weeks ago, the technology picked up approximately 3,000 multiple fired gunshots—more than 1,100 less than during the same period in 2017.
Morales mentioned that in one month this year, 30 gunshots were recorded in a specific area. The following month the technology picked up only two gunshots in that same area after more officers were placed in the area. Morales also said that this technology can also help officers quickly locate witnesses who might have seen the shooter as well.
“It’s a huge way of measuring, ‘are you actually making a difference in that neighborhood,’” said Morales.
